Pacific Symphony plays Mozart & Beethoven with Alexander Shelley cond., & Julian Rhee, violin

[Alexander Shelley is] “a natural communicator, both on and off the podium.” - The Daily Telegraph

[Julian Rhee] “Sophisticated, assured tone, superb intonation, and the kind of poise and showmanship that thrills audiences.” - The Strad
 

Soka Performing Arts Center welcomes Alexander Shelley, Pacific Symphony’s new Music Director, to our stage. Shelley will serve as Music Director Designate during the 2025–26 season, before assuming full artistic leadership in 2026-27.

Shelley succeeds Carl St.Clair, who will become Music Director Laureate, providing a seamless transition of artistic leadership to the orchestra he has led for more than three decades.

You can learn more about Maestro Shelley and watch the announcement video HERE
 

FEATURED ARTISTS:

Pacific Symphony Chamber Orchestra
Alexander Shelley, Music Director/conductor
Julian Rhee, violin

PROGRAM:

MOZART Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Major, K. 211
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92


PACIFIC SYMPHONY
Pacific Symphony is the largest orchestra formed in the United States in the past 50 years and has earned national recognition for its adventurous programming, community engagement, and artistic growth. Founded in 1978, the Symphony has been led for 35 years by Music Director Carl St.Clair, one of the longest-serving music directors of a major American orchestra. In 2024, Alexander Shelley was named Artistic and Music Director Designate for the 2025–26 season and will begin his full-time tenure in the 2026–27 season, marking a bold new chapter in the Symphony’s artistic evolution.

With a purpose to lift the human spirit through the power of music, the Symphony is a pillar of the cultural landscape of Southern California, enriching lives and bringing communities together through creative and diverse programming. As the resident orchestra of the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, the Symphony presents more than 100 concerts and events each year and a rich array of education and community engagement programs, reaching more than 300,000 residents of all ages.

ALEXANDER SHELLEY
With a conducting technique described as “immaculate” (Yorkshire Post) and with a “precision, distinction and beauty of gesture” (Le Devoir), Shelley is known for the clarity and integrity of his interpretations and for the creativity and vision of his programming. To date he has spearheaded over 40 major world premieres, highly praised cycles of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms symphonies, operas, ballets and innovative multi-media productions.

Since 2015 he has served as both Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and as Principal Associate Conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2024/25, he also began his tenure as Artistic and Music Director of Artis−Naples in Florida, providing artistic leadership for Naples Philharmonic, as well as for the entire multidisciplinary arts organization.

Additional highlights of the 2024/25 season include performances with the Seattle Symphony, Chicago Civic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic and the National Symphony of Ireland. Shelley is a regular guest with some of the finest orchestras of Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australasia, including Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Helsinki, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Malaysian, Oslo, Rotterdam and Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestras and the Sao Paulo, Houston, Seattle, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Montreal, Toronto, Munich, Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand symphony orchestras.

In September 2015, Shelley succeeded Pinchas Zukerman as Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, the youngest in its history. The ensemble has since been praised as “an orchestra transformed … hungry, bold, and unleashed” (Ottawa Citizen) and his programming credited for turning the orchestra “almost overnight … into one of the more audacious orchestras in North America.” (Maclean’s Magazine). Together they have undertaken major tours of Canada, Europe and to Carnegie Hall, where they premiered Philip Glass’s 13th symphony.

They have commissioned ground-breaking projects such as Life Reflected and Encount3rs, released multiple JUNO award-nominated albums and, most recently, responded to the pandemic and social justice issues of the era with the NACOLive and UnDisrupted series. This season they complete a major Schumann - Brahms - Schumann recording cycle and perform multiple world premieres.

In August 2017, Shelley concluded his eight-year tenure as Chief Conductor of the Nürnberger Symphoniker, a period that was hailed by press and audience alike as a golden era for the orchestra.

His operatic engagements have included The Merry Widow and Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet (Royal Danish Opera); La bohème (Opera Lyra/National Arts Centre), Louis Riel (Canadian Opera Company/ National Arts Centre), Iolanta (Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen), Così fan tutte (Opéra National de Montpellier), The Marriage of Figaro (Opera North), Tosca (Innsbruck) and both Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni in semi-staged productions at the NAC. 

Winner of the ECHO prize and the Deutsche Grunderpreis, Shelley was conferred with the Cross of the Federal Order of Merit by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in recognition of his services to music and culture in April 2023. 

Through his work as Founder and Artistic Director of the Schumann Camerata and their pioneering “440Hz” series in Dusseldorf, as founding Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen’s ‘Zukunftslabor’ and through his regular tours leading Germany’s National Youth Orchestra, inspiring future generations of classical musicians and listeners has always been central to Alexander’s work.

He regularly gives informed and passionate pre- and post-concert talks on his programs, as well as numerous interviews and podcasts on the role of classical music in society. During his time in Nuremberg, he hosted more than half a million people at the annual Klassik Open Air concerts – Europe’s largest classical music event. Born in London in October 1979 to celebrated concert pianists, Alexander studied cello and conducting in Germany and first gained widespread attention when he was unanimously awarded first prize at the 2005 Leeds Conductors’ Competition, with the press describing him as “the most exciting and gifted young conductor to have taken this highly prestigious award.” 
 

JULIAN RHEE
Winner of the prestigious 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Korean-American violinist Julian Rhee has enthralled listeners internationally, praised for his refinement and beauty of sound, and “the kind of poise and showmanship that thrills audiences.” (The Strad) His passion for all forms of collaboration has taken him around the world, producing a thoroughly sensitive and informed artist.

Rhee came to international prominence following his prize winning performances at the 2024 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition and Silver Medal finish at The 11th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Also the first prize winner of the 2020 Elmar Oliveira International Competition and Astral Artists’ National Auditions, Rhee is the recipient of numerous awards such as the Aspen Festival’s Dorothy DeLay Fellowship, Arkady Fomin Scholarship Fund, Theodore Presser Scholar Award, The Foote Award, and the Manfred Grommek Prize from the Kronberg Academy. He is a Young Strings of America Ambassador sponsored by SHAR Music.

Since his Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra debut at age 8, Rhee has gone on to perform with orchestras all across the world, such as the Belgian National Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Antwerp Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Aspen Philharmonic, East Coast Chamber, Orchestra Royal de Chamber de Wallonie, Württemberg Chamber Orchestra of Heilbronn, and San Diego Symphony, and with acclaimed conductors such as Francesco Lecce-Chong, Nicolas McGegan, David Danzmayr, Rune Bergmann, Valentina Peleggi, Antony Hermus, and Leonard Slatkin, among others. He has performed in an array of venues including Staatsoper Hamburg, Kronberg Academy’s Casals Forum, Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall, Center for Fine Arts BOZAR in Brussels, Heinz Hall, the Overture Center for the Arts, Teatro El Círculo in Rosario, Argentina, The Musikverein in Vienna, Bartok Hall in Hungary, New World Center, and the John F Kennedy Center as a US Presidential Scholar, receiving his medal at the White House. Recent and upcoming engagements include appearances with the Stuttgarter KammerOrchester, Arkansas Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, European Orchestra Academy, and returns to the Santa Rosa Symphony, Eugene Symphony, and Madison Symphony Orchestras.

Equally invested in chamber music, Rhee is the newest member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center CMS’s Bowers Program. Rhee has also performed at and attended festivals including the Ravinia Steans Institute, Marlboro Festival, Rockport Music, and North Shore Chamber Music Festivals, performing alongside esteemed musicians such as Vadim Gluzman, Jonathan Biss, Mitsuko Uchida, Kim Kashkashian, and Peter Wiley. He has appeared alongside Time For Three on NPR’s From the Top, Jupiter Chamber Players, Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase, Milwaukee Public Television, and Wisconsin Public Radio and Television.

Rhee studied with Hye-Sun Lee and Almita Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy and received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree as teaching assistant of Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory. He currently studies with Christian Tetzlaff at the Kronberg Academy.

Rhee is the recipient of the outstanding 1699 “Lady Tennant” Antonio Stradivari violin and Jean Pierre Marie Persoit bow on extended loan through the generosity of the Mary B. Galvin Foundation and the efforts of the Stradivari Society, a division of Bein & Fushi, Inc. The Mary B. Galvin Foundation, Inc. and the Stradivari Society support the very highest level of string playing by loaning precious antique Italian instruments to artists of exceptional talent and ability.

For this performance, we’re partnering with the Laguna Food Pantry and will have donation bins for highly requested food items to go to the most vulnerable in our community. Consider bringing a can (or two!) for donation.